Previously, we went through the top ten overall fantasy baseball draft list for 2008 and the top twenty first basemen. Well, an interesting thing happened on the way to spring training. Last Friday, while Pujols was bitching about how his accomplishments aren’t tainted, he also reported something else that was going on last year. The papers reported this:

Pujols said he decided against offseason surgery on his right elbow, a trouble spot for several years, because he would have had to miss a significant portion if not all the 2008 season. Pujols still is unable to straighten his arm, but team doctors concluded that because he plays first base, an operation can be postponed. He said his elbow bothered him the second half of last season, and said if that happens again he wouldn’t try to soldier through it.

If we can be armchair psychologists real fast, Pujols was upset that no one was giving him credit for his stellar seasons and whispering that steroids were involved. So to silence the critics, he said he’s not only been fantastic, but he’s been playing with a non-functioning arm. Then Pujols threatens to no longer play with a crooked elbow and will hang up his spikes, if he doesn’t get the proper love from said jackass critics.

Either way, Pujols’s elbow was hurting him and this isn’t good for Pujols’s owners. The elbow might be the reason for the down year in 2007. If the same pain continues in the 2008, Pujols might fight through it or he might elect for surgery. These draft lists are in no way set in stone, and Pujols draft spot needs to be corrected. Does this drop Pujols out of the top twenty overall? Are you better off drafting Lyle Overbay? No and don’t be stupid. I would move Pujols to late in the first round, right after Miguel Cabrera, or number eight on the top ten 2008 draft list.